On VR

Here’s a few VR games I’m personally excited to play in the coming months:

There’s clearly a lot of people who don’t feel the same as me, but I think most of the naysayers have likely never even touched a new VR headset and I expect most of them know very little about the thing of which they speak—which I’ve also covered previously:

I don’t think of any of the VR headsets as just another peripheral for a console or PC; I simply think of the box as a requirement to power these devices. But I really think of VR as a whole new platform in its own right. And, soon enough, you won’t need any external boxes to power these things anyway:

To Paul’s Question

Yeah, there’s still going to be plenty on non-VR games getting developed for the foreseeable future, because there’s just not a big enough VR market right now for everyone to start putting all their eggs in one basket. But I do think most developers are eventually going to want to at least dip a toe in VR. It’s just that compelling a technology that I don’t think any developer worth their salt, and with the means to do so, would skip developing a title for VR at some point, and ideally sooner rather than later. It would be crazy not to imo. In fact, it would be akin to a studio that’s been around since the days of classic 2D gaming never having made a 3D game since the advent of 3D. Why would you limit yourself to only doing things the old way when there’s a whole new and exciting way to make games that’s now available to you?

If I had the means I’d be working on a VR title right now:

Purchasing something like a Gear VR or one of the even cheaper options like Google Glass is a great starting point for people who aren’t rich but want to try VR, just to see what the hype is all about. I have a REALLY cheap VR viewer at home, but it’s kinda crap. I did however get the opportunity to try out an Oculus Rift DK1, so I’m already sold. And the consumer versions of these high-end VR headsets, like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR, are leagues beyond even the DKI.

If you don’t think you’re interested in VR I would suggest figuring out some way to try it before definitively deciding one way or another:

On Microsoft and Nintendo not having a VR headset coming anytime soon

At least Microsoft has the Hololens:

But I think Nintendo is making a huge mistake not taking VR as seriously as I believe it should be taking it. Maybe the NX will turn out be this genuinely amazing, paradigm shifting entertainment console, or maybe it will be just another Wii U, which not a lot of people really cared about ultimately. I’m finding it hard to get excited by anything NX related when VR is, to me, absolutely the most exciting thing to happen in gaming and entertainment in general for generations. What the hell could Nintendo possibly have up its sleeve that would pull my attention seriously away from VR?

I mean, we don’t really know anything concrete about NX at this point, or at least anything that’s particularly exciting:

I don’t worry too much about Microsoft going forward because the Xbox One is doing pretty well (better than the Wii U certainly), Hololens is coming soon enough, and I’m pretty sure it’s deep into VR research and development anyway. I fear Nintendo, however, may be dropping the ball terribly. It’s already late to the smartphone/tablet party, and it doesn’t seem to grasp how big VR is going to be going forward. If NX is another flop then God knows how few consumers are going to care about the company a generation or two down the line, outside of an ever-dwindling group of the most loyal fans and a bunch of random casuals.

We all know that Nintendo got burned with the Virtual Boy, but I don’t think that’s a reason to ignore VR completely:

How to show VR to people that don’t have immediate access to a VR headset?

Well, it’s not ideal but outside of setting up demo booths or something like that, I think these guys are doing a not too shabby job of it:

In regards to cross-play with the likes of PS4 and Xbox One games

I don’t see any good reason from the consumer’s point of view why that wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms. If it’s not too much of a technical hurdle to overcome then I think hardware companies, developers, and publishers should get on it right away.